Mother Nature
by Faded Warrior
Summary: Porpentina Jacques went to Hogwarts hoping to find herself a normal life in the wizarding community. Hogwarts is not as kind to her as she would have hoped, however she meets the love of her life through a battle for dignity. This is a tale of Porpentina


A scarlet steam engine rampaged through the countryside on its second and final journey of the year. A great blurring mass of metal and turning wheels glided along a railway track only ever used by the one train. It passed over rural villages and raging rivers. It wove around hillsides and was swallowed by great hills and valleys. The colossal track meandered the whole length of Great Britain, starting in the centre of London, weaving ever upwards, past the Scottish border, past the dominant Scottish cities and even further North still. It carried on until great mountains could be seen looming in the sky, where very few humans ever dared visit. A gentle stream of steam emitted from the train's funnel as it wove within the mountains, on its last leg of the journey.

Down in the Hogwarts Express a small first year was pressing her nose to the window, ignoring all of the voices around her. She had been looking forward to Hogwarts ever since her elder brother Ignatius had received his letter three years previously. He was sitting beside her, looking after his younger sister on their mother's orders. His dark hair was cleanly cut, pulled out of the way of his face, revealing hazel eyes and a strong jaw. Porpentina also had dark hair, but her eyes were of a vivid green colour, like her mother. She was shorter than her brother, naturally; however was a lot larger than him, and all of his friends in the same compartment. She heard them mocking her size as she settled in, their words soon shushed by her elder brother. The words hurt a lot; she dearly hoped that it wasn't something she would have to suffer from in the future. She hoped that it was simply their way, poke fun at the new kids.

"We'll be there soon," commented Ignatius, patting his sister on the shoulder, distracting her from her view of constant darkness before continuing. "You need to change into your robes."

He reached up and pulled her luggage down from the trunk rack above their heads, pulling out her set of robes and handing them to her before setting out finding his own. Porpentina took them with a nod and put them on. Hogwarts had never had a uniform; they just wore robes over their own suitable clothing, plain, black and long, same for each gender. No sooner had she slipped them on and taken her seat once more than she had her nosed pressed against the window again. In the distance she could just make out some little lights and a turret peering between the occasional gaps in the mountain tops. Her brother was right; they would get to Hogwarts soon. Butterflies seemed to be having a party in her stomach as the others in the compartment changed into their robes and became progressively more fidgety. It seemed that even the older students loved to see Hogwarts as soon as possible. Most of her brother's friends were Gryffindors, like himself. She didn't really know which of the four houses she would be in, it didn't matter to her as long as she was sorted and accepted into the well known magical school.

The train suddenly came to a steady halt and a burst of chattering pounded against her ears as the compartment doors were opened and tens of students started to swarm past and exit out onto the platform. Rather flustered at the sudden stop, Porpentina managed to haul her trunk out into the corridor and lug it out onto the station.

"Leave it there," said her brother behind her as he started to disappear amongst the crowd. "They take it up separately. Go over there, see that torch? The gamekeeper should be holding it. He's a dwarf so make sure you don't miss him." Ignatius patted her briefly on the head before disappearing completely, a trail of his friends following behind as they headed towards some boar flanked gates.

Porpentina did as she was bade, pushing her way through the crowds of milling students towards the crackle of a flaming torch at the side, away from the crowds. On close inspection she managed to sight a dwarf holding the torch. He had small, watery eyes and a white moustache. White fluffy hair protruded from his ears, with a sparse covering to the top of his head. He was squeaking at what seemed to be the top of his voice for any first years to join him, though it seemed that most of them had made their way there by themselves. Porpentina stood at the back of the group as they waited for the older students to vanish through the boar flanked gates. She was painfully aware that she could see over the heads of all of them, and was twice the width. The dwarf man watched the crowd disperse before heading down a small dirt track, through the overhanging trees. He didn't seem to think of his taller students as he walked under them quite easily, those behind him having to push the branches out of the way, particularly Porpentina. The track led down to a small docking area, where a dozen rowing boats were moored, vacant of oars. The gamekeeper took a seat in one of them and the students gradually followed suite. Porpentina clambered into one of them and settled at the back, she was soon joined by a small, dark girl and a boy whom looked delighted at the thought of crossing a loch in the dark.

No sooner had they all managed to claim a seat than the boats started to venture forth across the still waters of the loch. Moving silently, causing large smooth ripples to head out across the water which reflected the stars above like a giant pane of glass. Hogwarts castle sat atop of a great cliff face that they seemed to be nearing quickly. It was a giant mass of glittering windows and spiralling turrets that seemed to climb straight up to heaven. She could pick out some bridges and giant doors, balconies and buttresses.

The peace of the lake and awe was suddenly broken as the boat began to rock precariously. For a moment it appeared as though they had lost one of their number; but it simply turned out that the boy had his head over the side of the boat and was peering deep into the water.

"What are you doing?" she cried, leaning over and pulling him back into his seat, making the boat rock even more precariously with her great weight moving. "Do you want to tip the boat over?"

"You're a fine one to talk," retorted the boy, looking extremely annoyed that he had been disturbed from his peering into the water. "You're the one causing the rocking."

Porpentina was taken aback by his quick retort and settled down quietly, staring back at the castle with a hard look upon her face, struggling to hide the hurt that his words caused.

The boy suddenly seemed to recollect what he had just said. "I'm sorry," he muttered, sounding as though he genuinely meant it. "I was just looking for plimpies, that's all."

Porpentina had no idea what a plimpy was but did not question. She simply retreated into a dignified silence as they came to the cliff face, the boats turning to pass through an ivy encased archway, leading into an underground harbour, where the boy was forced to resurface again. She had to duck her head slightly at one point, as did all of them. The harbour was small, just large enough to tie up their boats and depart up a dark looking tunnel; they must have been quite a distance below the school. They followed the gamekeeper into the tunnel, craning their necks to follow the light emanating from the burning torch. It was a fairly steep ascent which seemed to spiral ever so slightly, until they finally came out onto an area of flat grass before the front entrance to the castle. The assembled students watched in trepidation as the gamekeeper hobbled in front, rapping his knuckles sharply upon the giant oaken door; surprisingly his small knock reverberated in a huge unearthly sound not fitting to the dwarf's size.

"Ickle firsties! How spiffingly sickening!"

The first years jumped back in surprise as the door seemed to reply to the knocking, some of them muttered darkly and backed away.

A second later an evil cackle could be heard and a translucent head protruded from the door, wearing a large grin and a medieval jester's hat. It was the schools resident poltergeist, Peeves. Ignatius had already warned Porpentina about the fiend.

"Peeves, what did the headmaster tell you about the first day of school?" squeaked the tiny gamekeeper.

Peeves put a hand to his ear momentarily and went deathly silent, looking around with wide, mad eyes. "Peevsie hears a squeaking," he finally said quietly. "But cannot see the source, could it be an ickle mousie, or an ickle firstie?" He grinned maliciously as the gamekeeper shot him a death glare. "Oh it's an ickle Professorhead! Peevsie see now, he does squeaksie..."

"PEEVES!"

The poltergeist flew a good five feet higher into the air as a man with a red nose pushed open the great front oak doors and bellowed at the floating tormentor. He was a tall man, with a thin face and harsh cheek bones, his eyes were bulging madly as he bellowed at the poltergeist above him, wand drawn.

"What did I tell you about new students Peeves?"

"I don't remember Professor Head," replied the poltergeist.

"To leave them well alone for the first night, and however long afterwards you can withhold your impish spite!" bellowed the Headmaster looking quite mad, his wand pointing in the poltergeists face.

"So you did Professor Head," admitted the poltergeist, before swooping off and cackling maniacally.

The students were not at all happy about the outburst from their headmaster, as he disappeared into the entrance hall they all followed meekly. Some of them even found themselves holding their breath, not wishing to be bellowed at, like the poltergeist, he was a stern looking man indeed. The entrance hall was large and cavernous, with a high ceiling and a sweeping marble staircase. They marched past for shining hourglasses, each of them empty, though if they looked carefully they could see the stash of different coloured jewels in the gilded tops, ready to fall. The headmaster glided straight past the golden hourglasses and pushed against some more great oak doors on their right. They let out a resounding creak, before opening wide and allowing bright light to spill onto the full flagstones beneath their nervously shuffling feet.

"It's the great hall," Porpentina heard someone whisper.

And they were right. The great hall was the place where the school would congregate three times a day to eat their meals. It had an even higher ceiling than that of the entrance hall, enchanted to look like the night sky above, it was currently host to a multitude of twinkling stars which seemed to wink at the students below. Candlesticks floated in the air above the four house tables which stretched the full length of the great hall, one for each of the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. At the end of the hall resided the staff table, all present and correct except the very middle seat, a throne like chair for the headmaster himself. Golden cups, plates and platters glinted all about the hall, though these were currently empty, for the sorting was about to begin.

The first years assembled at the front of the hall, before a three legged stool with a hat upon it, as the headmaster took his seat at the staff table. They all huddled together like penguins, their eyes darting around at all of the older students in the hall, some of them were nervous, others excited, some even looked bored with the proceedings. As did many of the older students, they had been there and done the sorting ceremony, for many of the seventh years it was tedious to watch so many times.

The brim of the hat opened into a mouth shape and started to sing, something that Porpentina was prepared for, she did not listen to the words, but looked about the hall instead. Most of her fellow first years were enraptured by the words of the sorting hat as it sang to the hall; some of them seemed distracted, other extremely worried. A couple of them, probably Muggle born, looked terrified at the prospect of a singing hat which could read their mind when sat upon their head. Porpentina moved her gaze from the first years to the house tables; she could see them all easily, as they stood right in the middle of all of them. Her eyes sought out any sign of red and gold, or a nearly headless ghost, to catch a sighting of her brother. When she spotted the lion emblazoned on a flag behind the far table, her eyes quickly passed over the occupants; however seemed to have missed her brother. She sighed and pushed her attention towards the hat once more as it had stopped singing and a soft pattering of applause came from the hall, it was time to see what house she would be in.

She watched as one by one the first years tried the hat on and were sorted into their houses. She didn't take much detail in really, just waiting patiently for her turn whilst each of the tables grew in population. She didn't really mind what house she was sorted in, part of her wanted to be with her brother, yet another part of her wanted to be away from him, however much he protected and looked after her. It would be nice to be surrounded by completely new people; however she felt that the ideal picture in her head wasn't quite how it would turn out for her. Size was sadly a factor in popularity, even in a magical school.

"Jacques, Porpentina!"

She jumped ever so slightly as her name was called out to the hall for sorting and gently pushed through the crowd and stepped up to the three legged stool. She suddenly had mad butterflies in her stomach and sweaty palms which weren't present before. She was suddenly very self conscious and couldn't wait to just get it over and done with so she could sink onto a bench and try to dissolve into the floor.

Her hands clenched tightly at the stool as she took a seat, putting the hat on, it covered her eyes from the peering faces of the rest of the school. She bit her lip hard in anticipation of what was to come, even though the outcome mattered little to her, she was still terrified, a small bead of cold sweat dripped down her nose as she heard the slight grumbles of the hat as though inside her own head.

"A Jacques eh? It's been a few years since I sorted one of you. You have a brother correct?"

No sooner had Porpentina thought about her brother than the hat began to talk once more, confirmed by her thoughts.

"Yes Ignatius was certainly a Gryffindor, not particularly tricky to sort, not like your father, he was a test indeed. So are you going to be like your father or your brother eh? Well I definitely see some bravery there, though it seems that you wouldn't agree with me. Slytherin would not really take you, his brains are in me you know, no, your family is not pure enough, that is what he would say. It takes a little more purity to get into his house. What about Ravenclaw, no... no. Your brains are not terrible, yet not your redeeming features if you don't mind my saying..."

Porpentina bit down hard on her lip as the hat continued to mumble musings; she didn't know whether to be offended, happy, relieved or any other emotion at its words. She just wanted to be sorted as soon as possible.

"So it's Gryffindor or Hufflepuff then dear Porpentina? Though you don't think you are brave, there is certainly some self consciousness here, so perhaps not even the boldness is there. Though Godric always was very random with his choosing, he wasn't amazingly picky. But I see kindness in you, certainly you have a very warm heart, I can see it all. Yes ... Helga would be very fond of such a student."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The sorting hat bellowed out the last word to the entire vicinity as Porpentina took the hat off with a wide grin, placing it back on the stool as she scurried off to the Hufflepuff table, they were clapping politely and she saw many warm smiles as she sat down, a few hands patted her on the back as she took a seat amongst the first years who had already been sorted into the Hufflepuff house.

She sighed and smiled contently as her attention was drawn to the front to watch the rest of her year being sorted into their houses. So she was in Hufflepuff, not a bad place to end up at all really. Her brother said that he had many friends in Hufflepuff, some people said they were boring, however he insisted that they were very nice, down to earth people in general. However with every house there is always one that sticks out slightly, as though they don't really belong there at all, it was said that Helga Hufflepuff took all of the students that the other founders would not take, so she hoped for lots of different personalities.

At the end of the proceedings the food appeared on the tables all at once and before she could register what had happened many of the older students had already thrown themselves into the feast. The first years were a little slower on the uptake, a boy further up was prodding a chicken leg nervously as though it were going to disappear as fast as it had appeared. Yet one by one they found some confidence and managed to serve themselves some food. Porpentina took a normal portion herself, chicken casserole and mashed potatoes, dripping in the sauce. She was just about to tuck in when the girl across the table from her piped up.

"Not going to take a larger portion then?" she asked.

Porpentina looked up to look at the speaker. She was a small little thing, blonde curls bounced about her oval face. She had a slightly pointed, upturned nose and a pointed chin, her lips were plump and healthy. She would have looked almost angelic if it had not been for her eyes at that moment. They were an icy blue, that twinned with sharp eyebrows and a malicious grin gave Porpentina an immediate bad impression of the girl who was looking at her with a cruel gaze.

"I don't see what is wrong with what I have," Porpentina replied calmly before adding, "I believe that it is the same portion as you have there."

The girl looked down at her plate, she had pasta.

"Well it just struck me that you seemed to be holding yourself back," she replied, "I thought that perhaps you didn't feel well, or were homesick or something."

Her voice was sickeningly sweet and airy, the sound of innocence. She shot Porpentina a smile which seemed almost genuinely warm, Porpentina tried to smile back, slightly confused as to her impressions of the girl already. Perhaps it was a trick of the light that made her look so malicious before, perhaps she was just wondering whether she was suffering from a depletion of appetite in a new place. She dismissed the thought and tucked into her food, devouring it swiftly in time for dessert.

After the feat the first years were led to their common rooms. The Hufflepuff common room was situated down by the kitchens in one of the sub levels, not yet quite in the dungeons. It was behind an enchanted tapestry which required the password 'sugar quill' before flying open revealing a circular entrance.

The common room itself was very homely, full of comfy chairs and cushions. A fire crackled merrily in the grate and various famous past Hufflepuffs smiled down from the walls. Some desks sat in the corner for studying and a magical radio sat on a shelf by one of the three windows. The windows looked out onto the grounds, however were very low to the ground, allowing enough light in to give a dim, warm ambience.

There were two staircases leading off of the common room to the boys and girls dormitory. Porpentina followed the other girls up the girls staircase, their dormitory was on the sixth level. The dormitory was as warm and cosy as the common room, four, four poster beds were in the circular room and a wood burner sat in the middle. Golden curtains hung on the four posters, gold and black chequered duvets resided on the beds. Each of their trunks sat at the end of a bed. Porpentina's was at the end of one of the middle two beds, which she assumed was the one where she would sleep for the next seven years. The other girls took to their beds quietly, drawing the hangings one by one. By midnight each and every one of them had fallen into an exhausted sleep. Each of them dreaming of their next seven years of Hogwarts, each with similar expectations and the hope of a fun filled future.


End file.
